Introducing the pharmaOriel module here at www.pharmascholar.co.uk…..
Book your bespoke session today by contacting Dr Davies at mike@pharmascholar.co.uk
“Dr Davies was really helpful with his advice for the Oriel process. I really enjoyed the sessions because he explained how the assessment links to real-world clinical practice, this will really help in approaching the questions. I would highly recommend!”
Miss RT, Year 4 MPharm, Manchester University Pharmacy School, United Kingdom.
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PharmaOriel at www.pharmascholar.co.uk
Oriel is the online system used to support recruitment in the healthcare sector throughout the United Kingdom (UK), directed by Health Education England. This route of engagement facilitates the robust, transparent and fair selection of candidates for the workplace. The model has been utilised for many years in Medicine and more recently in Dentistry plus the Healthcare Sciences. Importantly, this strategy is now the mainstay for recruitment in the Pharmacy sector (i.e. pharmacy operators recruit students via this mechanism onto their Foundation Year placements) hence stimulating the development and roll-out of the ‘pharmaOriel’ module here at www.pharmascholar.co.uk.
The Current Landscape
The Oriel recruitment system has been devised such that all applicants attempting to secure various trainee Pharmacist positions complete only one application form for their Foundation Year training; previously referred to as the Pre-registration Training Year. The Oriel process operates as an ‘opt-in’ model at the end of third year of the Master of Pharmacy degree where students need to register their interest, the bulk of the Foundation Year placements (i.e., up to 2000) are featured on the Oriel system, including all hospital places and primary care places. This makes the recruitment process fairer overall. Students may apply externally for places if they wish to do so, however this only covers sectors such as Community Pharmacy and Industrial Pharmacy.
Further to application completion, the individual must decide upon those employers that they would like to work with. To achieve this, the online platform offers scope to sort the various opportunities by ‘preferencing’ them in a ranked order, preferencing in no order or indicating programmes of no interest. As there are multiple training placements available, a filtering system is used to support applicants in making their choices. For example, the filtering process allows for a range of options including Pharmacy sector (i.e. Primary Care and Secondary Care), if the employer provides a ‘Skilled Worker Visa’ sponsorship, along with additional location and various placement options.
The Student Perspective
With respect to Pharmacy student recruitment, the Oriel system must be engaged with at the end of the 3rd year of study. As outlined above, the student is assessed and ranked in accordance with their global assessment score, alongside the disclosed choices of training programs according to the preference (i.e. ‘preferencing’). Once the individual score has been ranked and choices made, a comparison against other students will be made and then an offer will follow.
The Timeline
The following bulleted list provides an overview of the timeline of Oriel-based events over 2023 and 2024:
Oriel applications open 7th June 2023(12:00pm GMT)
Oriel applications close 21 June 2023 (12:00pm GMT)
Preferencing window opens 26th July 2023
Numeracy / SJT centre booking window opens 2nd August 2023
Numeracy / SJT centre booking window closes 16th August 2023
SJT / Numeracy selection centre held 21st September – 5th October 2023
Preferencing window closes 31st October 2023
First round of offers released early November 2023
Offers upgrade deadline late November 2023
Programmes commence July/August 2024
The Oriel Assessment for Pharmacy
At present, October 2023, there are two elements to the Oriel assessment, namely:
The Situational Judgement Test (SJT)
The Numeracy Test (NT)
The Professional Attributes Framework (PAF) forms the core of the Oriel assessment process. This model underpins those questions within the SJT. The SJT and NT are completed during the same session, which takes place at Pearson Test Centres across the UK. The SJT involves 52 scenarios to be completed in 104 minutes. The response format of this element of the Oriel assessment process is a mixture of selecting the best 3 actions out of 8 options in response to a scenario and ranking 5 responses in the appropriate order with the presented scenario in mind. The NT comprises of 10 questions which must be completed in 20 minutes. This test is aimed to provide an assurance of an applicant’s ability to perform basic pharmaceutical calculations as per professional practice. Here, a non-scientific calculator may be used.
pharmaOriel support is tailored directly to your educational / career-based needs…
Dr Michael Davies is the Managing Director and Lead Tutor at www.pharmascholar.co.uk.
Dr Davies has 26 years experience within the field of Pharmacy working and training others across the main disciplines of the profession; namely, Community, Hospital, Primary Care, Industrial and Academic Pharmacy. To date, Dr Davies has taught and mentored over 2700 individuals in the areas of Pharmacy Practice, Pharmaceutics and Medical Education. Indeed, between February 2022 and February 2023, Dr Davies was the AstraZeneca Medical Educator for Respiratory Medicine across the North West region of England; this role involved high-end, peer-to-peer healthcare education surrounding Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). He is therefore suitably placed and sufficiently experienced to support you with your Oriel application process.
Importantly, Dr Davies worked as the Admissions Lead for Medicine / Foundation Year for Medicine at the Edge Hill University Medical School in the North West of England. During this appointment within the Higher Education setting, Dr Davies was tasked with directing and delivering admissions policy that included devising relevant entry criteria for Medicine along with robust candidate selection processes. As such, Dr Davies is familiar with the NHS Values-based Recruitment Model, the Professional Attributes Framework for Pharmacists, SJT paradigms along with aspects underpinning the NT. With this background in mind, pharmaOriel is perfectly placed to help and guide you in a friendly and supportive way with your application for Pharmacy Foundation Year training.
Dr Davies is able to deliver individual / webinar events for those students set to undertake the Oriel assessment process. Drawing on previous experience as an Admissions Tutor for Medicine, Dr Davies will outline the secrets for success and help support student transition to a real-world, professional Pharmacy role.
The running order of topics during the session will be:
The NHS Values-based Recruitment Model
The Professional Attributes Framework
The Preferencing Process
The Situational Judgement Test, with examples
The Numeracy Test, with examples
Selected Resources
Opportunity for Questions
To book your slot now via ‘Contact Us’ today
